Cryptocurrency payments are frozen across India, hitting trading

Daily trading volumes on Indian crypto exchanges, which collectively cater to about 15 million people, has tumbled by between 88% and 96% since peaking last year, data from CoinGecko show

When Surojit Chatterjee walked on stage at a Coinbase Global Inc. conference in Bengaluru, India, on April 7, he had little reason to anticipate the fallout that would shortly ensue. Chatterjee, the company’s chief product officer, told the assembled audience that crypto investors would now be able to use the country’s online retail payments system to transfer funds to its local exchange.

Hours after Chatterjee’s announcement, the central bank-backed entity that runs the system — called United Payments Interface — said it was “not aware” of any crypto exchange using the network. Within three days of the event, Coinbase had halted